A little surprise
by proudtobegleek
Summary: When Ryder asks Marley to go for a winter walk in the snow, she doesn't expect the surprise he got in mind for her. Fluff!


AN: Hey guys! It's been months since I wrote fanfiction.. But I got this idea and I really wanted to write it down so yeah... this happened.

For one it's no klaine or seblaine, but actually a straight couple.  
Recently I started shipping Ryley reaaally hard, they just give me all these feels and kdjfkljf.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this little fic, make sure to let me know what you think,  
And let me know if you find any errors ;)

* * *

A little surprise

It was one of those typical snowy days, even though it was cloudy and pretty chill outside, the snow was piling up slowly, leaving strikingly beautiful landscapes behind. Winter was one of Marley's favorite seasons. Although she didn't really like the biting cold, she did enjoy walking around in the snow and after that, sitting at her grandmother's fireplace with delicious hot chocolate and a good book.

Today, however, she wasn't headed to her grandmother's place, Marley was conquering the icy road and cold snow to meet up with one of her best and closest friends. Warmly clothed in a thick marine-blue coat and a dark-red scarf with cute white figures, she was making her way through the ankle-high layer of snow. Ryder and Marley had agreed on meeting each other in front of one of the many forests in their neighborhood. The boy had told her he had a surprise for her, so she definitely couldn't refuse to tag along.

So there she was, walking on her own, with her iPod blasting Pink's newest song through the earphones and her hands deep down in her warm pockets. The girl softly hummed along with the song, not realizing she was actually singing out loud. She closed her eyes for a few seconds (she tend to do that a lot when she listened to her favorite music) which she regretted immediately when she suddenly felt someone touching her shoulder. The startled girl jumped up and opened her eyes right away, pulling the earphones abruptly out of her ears.

"Hey there, I recognized your beautiful vocals." a familiar voice said," I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you."

Marley turned around and even though she was still a bit alarmed, a little smile appeared on her lips. Once she realized the person that had touched her shoulder was Ryder, her heart started beating at a normal pace again and she could normally breathe. "Oh hi there... You didn't scare me at all." she answered, knowing that he saw she wasn't telling the entire truth. The shocked expression on her face hadn't lied. "I really should stop singing out loud on the streets though." she giggled softly, looking into the boy's eyes. "Anyway, hi Ry, how are you? I though we were going to meet up at the front gates." she mumbled softly.

Ryder nodded and smiled brightly, "yeah but.. I just crossed you, so I thought I'd say hi. I'm fine, what about you? Excited for my little surprise?" he teased the girl while they started walking together through the snow.

Marley rolled her eyes and gazed down, the boy knew how much she hated not knowing what was going to happen. Yes, she loved nice surprises but Marley was the kind of girl who liked knowing everything, just so she could (at least try to ) predict the unpredictable. "I'm fine as well, a little cold though." she chuckled, her eyes still fixed on the ground, "and a little scared. Should I be scared?"

Ryder raised his eyebrows and turned his head so he could look to the beautiful girl who was walking aside of him, "No, of course not. Why would you be scared? I'm not going to shoot you and dump you behind one of the trees. You know I'm not a serial-killer. That's not my style" he attempted making a joke, but realizing it wasn't really funny. "Hey Marl, I promise you, you will like the surprise, no worries." he added, making the girl look his way as well.

Marley pursed her chapped lips and nodded, "I guess I can trust you. I'm curious though, can't you just give me a hint?"

Ryder laughed quietly and shook his head frantically, "no of course not, that'd ruin the whole surprise. There's one thing I _can_ tell you though. I brought an extra scarf, and that scarf, is going to end up around your eyes."

Marley's eyes grew bigger, she knew she could trust her best friend, but she didn't like the idea of being blindfolded as they had to walk on a path as slippery as the one they were walking on right now.

"Don't look at me like that, you're not going to escape." Ryder went on, ignoring the frightened expression on the brunette's face.

As they kept on walking, the snow started falling faster and the wind was getting colder. Marley shivered a little, apparently her thick coat wasn't thick enough. Ryder looked at the girl and securely put an arm around her back, soothing her back and arm in hopes to make her feel a little hotter. Marley ignored the tickling it caused in her stomach, even though that seemed to happen more and more frequently lately. "Thanks Ry.. Do we still have to walk far though?" she asked, looking up at the boy who was holding her tightly.

Ryder shook his head and stopped walking, making Marley stand still as well. "As a matter of fact, now is the perfect time to blindfold you." he chuckled, while opening his backpack and searching through it to find the black piece of cloth.

Marley pouted but didn't complain when the boy put the scarf around her face, so she couldn't see a thing anymore. "How many fingers am I showing you?"

The girl shrugged, "I have no clue." she said honestly.

"Good, let's go, I'll guide you. I promise you you won't fall and our destination is not far anymore." Ryder soothed her, putting his arm around the girl again.

Although Marley hated the blindfold and the fact of knowing she could fall and embarrass herself any moment, she comforted herself with the thought she was safely in the boy's arms.

(…)

After what had seemed ages, but in reality only had been 10 miniscule minutes, Ryder finally stopped walking. "Don't move, I'll be right back." he said and just with that, he was gone.

Marley sighed, she wanted to get rid of the black blindfold and look where they were, but that'd ruin the boy's surprise and she didn't want to do that. So she just did what he asked and stood still, all alone, somewhere in a forest not knowing where she was at all.

"See.. That wasn't so hard, was it now?" she head the familiar voice nearing from a few meters and a subtle smile was formed on her lips. The excitement grew, as did the pace of her heartbeat.

She felt how someone, probably Ryder, grabbed her hands and lead her further through the snow. "Be careful, here's a step." he warned her, leading her onto the small steps. Marley heard a creaky noise and felt how the warm hands grabbed hers again and lead her through something. The snowy feeling around her ankles had disappeared and in stead she felt something that sounded like wood. "Where are we?" she asked curiously, really having to push herself not to remove the blindfold now.

Ryder laughed softly and did a step back, "A little more patience, I need to do something first." Marley heard how he closed a door behind her and then he was gone again. She could hear him walking around though, the room filled itself with unfamiliar noises and perfumes. She could smell a combination of mint and firewood and it smelled delicious.

Finally she felt the presence of the boy behind her and he whispered something in her ear, "keep your eyes closed, I'm going to remove the scarf." his voice sounded low, but excited as well.

Marley did as he told her to do and she kept her eyes closed, the black cloth being removed from her eyes. Her excitement grew bigger and bigger, but she didn't open her eyes just yet. She heard how Ryder stepped away from her again as she could also feel his eyes piercing through her.

"You can open them now." she heard her friend saying from the other side of the room.

Slowly but surely, Marley opened her eyes. First, they needed to adjust, because the dark scarf had blinded her eyes a little. But once she was used to the dim light, her eyes grew bigger and her mouth fell open. She looked around curiously, taking her time to examine the room. Everywhere were little lights and candles, who made the place look extremely romantic for some reason. There was a fireplace burning and the room looked as if it was inhabited. There was a table set with a bonny porcelain service and a red rose lying on one of the plates.

Marley was too taken aback to pronounce a single word. She was so stupefied by not only the fact that she was standing in a random wooden house in the middle of a forest, but also because it was so beautifully decorated with romantic detailing. The suddenly, her eyes lingered at the boy himself, standing across the room, next to the lit fireplace.

"So.. What do you think?" Ryder grinned, taking a step closer into the girl's direction.

Marley opened her mouth to say something, but words were escaping on her, she didn't know what to say. It was amazing, every girl's dream. Which girl wouldn't want her crush to take her on a surprise walk and transport her to a romantically decorated house.

"It's... whoa, Ry.. that's truly amazing. But why? What are we doing here?" she asked, watching at the boy who was coming closer.

When Ryder stood in front of her, he looked in those cerulean eyes and threw her a crooked smile. Marley's heart melted because that was the kind of smile that could make her swoon anytime.

Time stopped and for a second, Marley felt as if she couldn't breathe. If anyone else but Ryder would have been present, she'd have asked him to pinch her because the moment she'd been dreaming of for an uncountable amount of times, was _finally_ happening. Her friend was standing dangerously close to her now, his face only inches away from hers. If she didn't want this, now was the moment to pull back, but she didn't want to. And before she realized what was happening, the boy was pressing his warm lips against hers, like he had done exactly one year ago when they were about to go onstage. It was a soft, quick and chaste kiss but it was enough to set the butterflies in her stomach free, she got that tickling feeling in her belly she always got when she thought or dreamed about this boy. When Ryder leaned back, she could sense his nervousness. She avoided her eyes for just a split second and she could see him sigh subtly.

Ryder coughed and took a step back. "So uh..." he said awkwardly, "Surprise..." he added, his hand going through his blonde hair. It was a bad habit of him, Marley knew he'd do that every time he was feeling nervous or insecure. She kept quiet for a moment though, building up the tension.

Even though her cheeks were burning-red, the brunette couldn't help but smile, which seemed to comfort Ryder just a bit. She decided not to wait any longer with her response, knowing that the boy was going through hell at the moment and sighed, "That was... _amazing_."

Ryder's eyes lit op from the moment Marley had pronounced the word 'amazing' and a reflecting smile appeared on his face as well. "Seriously..?" he asked, a little insecure.

Marley nodded and took a step closer, "Did you do all of this.." she pointed at one of the candles in the room, "just so you could kiss me?" she grinned, looking in the boy's beautiful dark-brown hazel eyes.

Ryder chuckled softly and shook his head. He took a few seconds to search the right words but then took a strand of Marley's hair, and put it carefully behind her ear. He sighed quietly and looked back into her bright blue eyes,"Not just to kiss you. Marley... Ever since Grease, I have been crushing on you. You're the most talented and beautiful girl I've ever met and I have to admit, my time rehearsing for the musical with you was the best time I had during sophomore year. Marley, you've been my best friend for months, but I didn't find it fair to you to keep those feelings for myself. I wanted you to know how I felt so... Yeah..I kind of abducted you to my parent's holiday house and.. surprised you, I guess" once again, Ryder went with his hand through his blonde locks and this time, also biting his lip.

Marley didn't know what to say. Her mind was racing and even though a thousand ideas came through her mind, none of them seemed to be the perfect answer for the heart-melting thing Ryder just had said. She realized she had to say something though, keeping silent wouldn't give him the right idea of what she was thinking. She was just so surprised the feeling she'd been dealing with for over months, was mutual. "You... _like_ me?" she asked quietly.

Ryker bit his lip and nodded genuinely, "Yes, Marl. I do. Please say something? Do you … like me too?" he asked nervously.

Marley was giggling and squealing on the inside, but she managed to stay calm on the outside, which was obviously driving the boy mad. "Well..." she paused a second, taking her time to get closer to him again. She didn't know where the sudden confidence came from but she pursed her lips and smiled, "luck's on your side." she replied, standing on her toes and leaning a bit closer so she could return the favor and press her lips softly against his. Ryder had closed his eyes and without breaking apart, he cautiously, put his arms around her thin waist and pulled her a tad closer. This kiss lasted a little longer but was just as careful and chaste as the last one. When Marley pulled back, she didn't remove the boy's arms around her waist, nor did she lean back, she just sighed happily. "Does that answer your question?" she grinned softly, her eyes not looking away from his.

A wave of relief washed over her friend's face and that one crooked smile reappeared. "So what.. I get permission to kiss you now whenever I want to?" he asked cheekily.

Marley couldn't help but chuckle, he still was the same old dork she fell for in the first place. "Of course you silly. For the record, I've been liking you ever since I saw you in the Danny Zuko outfit." she giggled, crunching her nose as she did so.

"Oh, well, you looked pretty stunning as well, wearing that Sandy outfit." he replied, kissing her playfully on the nose. It made Marley's smile only grow bigger, "So eh.. Not to ruin the moment, but was this your surprise?" the girl asked curiously.

Ryder's eyes opened wider and he let go of the girl in his arms. "Shit!" he cursed. At that moment, a burning smell had filled the room. Ryder ran to the open kitchen and opened the oven. Marley followed him slowly and couldn't help but laugh when she saw the greyish smoke escaping from the oven. Ryder tried grabbing the bowl that was inside but burned himself and he shrieked loudly. Marley giggled softly and shook her head. "Silly... You shouldn't take it with your bare hands.. Do you have any napkins here?" she asked, pushing the boy aside and grabbing the napkins he handed her. He successfully took the failed dish out of the oven and scrunched her face again. "What is this?" she grinned, inspecting the plate.

Ryder shrugged, "Well... That was supposed to be one of your surprises, but I screwed that up big time." he pouted as he looked at the burned dish. "I put it in the oven before we arrived here, but I guess I lost track of time. I don't think that's edible."

Marley shook her head and put the dish down, "no I don't think so either. I appreciate the attempt though." she closed the oven and looked at the boy. "Maybe we can order pizza, or something, to save the date... Or.. wasn't this meant as a date?" she asked, suddenly insure.

The boy put his arms around her again and looked her deep in the eyes, "Well.. I was hoping you'd like this to be first date... But only if you want to of course. I think that ordering pizza is a great idea though." he replied, pulling her a little closer.

"Then this shall be our first date." the girl giggle, leaning closer so she could kiss her new boyfriend once again.


End file.
